» 2005 » November

The Montreal Canadiens took part in their first shoot out in the history of the franchise last night in Pittsburgh. It took 17 games to finally have one and the Habs came out on the losing end, with the only goal scored by Sidney Crosby.

Crosby absolutely destroyed Jose Theodore with a double fake shot and went to the backhand to tuck it in right under the bar and send the water bottle flying. Despite losing the shoot out, it was extremely exciting to watch.

Claude Julien selected Michael Ryder, Alex Kovalev and Alexander Perezhogin as his shooters. It’s hard to argue as Ryder is a sniper , Perezhogin is a sniper and Kovalev is the insurance policy in the middle. All failed to score. It was the Canadiens first shoot out ever and Julien will have a chance to redeem himself soon enough. Perhaps Koivu or Ribeiro would have been a stronger choice.

The Canadiens rallied again from a 2-0 defecit and managed to send it to overtime after Chris Higgins buried a one timer late in the 3rd. Jocelyn Thibault played extremely well the whole game. The Canadiens were dealt a 5 minute major for a totally clean hit by Steve Begin. #22 absolutely leveled Maxim Talbot who had his head down and in an awkward position. Welcome to the NHL Max.

The Habs still managed a point on the road, and are still undefeated in regulation. Next up Toronto and 2 important divisional points.

The Montreal Canadiens head into Steel Town tonight to take on the Penguins. The Penguins are coming off a 5-0 beat down by the lowly Thrashers and the Canadiens come into to town on a 5 game winning tear. All signs point to an easy Habs victory.

Sidney Crosby will play his first career game against the team he idolized and wanted to be drafted by. He will have to forget those feelings tonight as his struggling Penguins team will have their hands full with the hot streak Habs.

The Canadiens are juggling their goaltending situation around as Yann Danis was sent down to Hamilton, Cristobal Huet makes his first bench warming debut tonight. He returned 1 month earlier than expected and the Canadiens now have some decisions to make regarding their goalies.

The Canadiens may have a chance to break their 1 goal game winning style tonight against a weak Penguins defence. Claude Julien will be pushing the guys to put up some numbers and not have to come from behind in the 3rd period for the win.

Mario loves playing against Montreal and you have to expect Crosby to be fired up as well. If we can contain them it shouldn’t be too hard to grab 2 more road points.